Limiting the Charitable Deduction Hurts the Poor

In a recent essay for the Hoover Institution’s Defining Ideas, Richard Epstein looks at the broader impact of limiting the charitable deduction. Epstein notes:

It is tempting to think that the limitations on deductions will hurt the rich by cutting back on their deductions. But the burden will fall heavily on the recipients of charitable support, for as the price of making a charitable gift rises (anywhere from 30 to 100 percent), the level of charitable giving will decline. Hurt in the shuffle are, of course, the low-income beneficiaries of charity.